Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Delhi: Student locks teacher in washroom, seeks ‘sexual favours’ to set her free

A 44-year-old senior Delhi government school teacher was allegedly confined inside a school washroom in Shahdara district’s Vivek Vihar for around 15 minutes by an unidentified student, who later demanded “sexual favour” from her on the pretext of releasing her.

No apprehension has been made yet, but a case has been registered under IPC sections 354-A (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) at Vivek Vihar police station, and investigators are now trying to establish the identity of the suspect.

A school management committee meeting, of the morning and evening shift schools, was called on Wednesday to discuss the issue. Parents have assured the teachers of full support. “The student has not been identified yet. We are planning to conduct a ‘youth and adolescent training’ at the school,” said advisor to the education minister, Atishi Marlena.

Nupur Prasad, DCP (Shahdara district), said that further investigations are underway. Sources said that the incident occurred on Tuesday after the first shift for girls got over at 12.30 pm and the teacher went to the washroom at around 12.50 pm.

“She was inside the washroom when she heard a noise and realised that the door had been locked from outside,” sources said.

“She initially requested the student to open the door, but he started abusing her. He then started demanding sexual favours on the pretext of unlocking her door. The teacher started screaming for help, following which the student fled. However, she managed to get a glimpse of him through the ventilator,” sources said.

She was later rescued by the office staff. The woman informed the school principal about the incident, who in turn asked her to identify the student during the prayer time, police said, adding that she has seen over 300 boys, but has not yet been able to identify the suspect. She then informed the police.